Baby Broth Recipe {Delicious & Easy To Make}
Baby broth is one of the essential, very nutrition rich liquids that you can make for your baby at home. Truth is, this is a kind of both that you could be making for your toddler as well as your baby but of course the whole family will enjoy it.
Homemade baby broth is really easy to make. In fact, it requires very minimal preparation (like washing and peeling vegetables) but the result is beyond ordinary.
This will be the most delicious, healthy broth you can feed your baby or toddler.
Why Homemade Baby Broth Is So Good
- It’s 100% natural, with no preservatives, modifies etc.
- Homemade baby broth tastes delicious and it’s packed with a powerhouse of nutrients.
- You have complete control over every single ingredient you use to make broth.
- You can mix and match the veggies and adapt it to seasonal ingredients or personal taste.
- All the veggies used to make the broth can be served to your baby/toddler. They have so much flavor since they’ve been cooked with all other ingredients. You can puree them or serve cut in pieces.
- It’s freezer friendly. Make a big batch and store it in freezer-friendly containers.
- You can use it in a many different ways such as making soup, risotto or my little one favorite is Italian minestrina or pastina soup for babies.
- Finally, you can choose to skip the meat and make it completely vegetable based using all the same ingredients, except meat.
Ingredients
Quail
Quail is a small type of bird from the family of gallinaceous or chicken-like birds. Quail meat (and eggs) is an amazing dietary food packed with vitamins, minerals and amino acids. In fact, it’s qualities surpass chicken and even veal. It’s much leaner and more flavorful compared to chicken meat which makes it an idea meat for broth for babies and toddler.
Read more about great health benefits of eating quail meat.
Of course, you can substitute chicken for quail, preferably free-range, non-frozen organic chicken carcass is the second best option.
You can also skip any kind of meat and make broth for your baby using only vegetables.
Vegetables
Carrots – just a medium size carrot will do. Adding too much carrots will make the broth too sweet.
Celery – peel the rib with vegetable peeler to remove tough outer strings if you’d like to serve them as a separate veggie for you little one
Onion – use any kind of onion you have available or a couple of shallots.
Garlic – add an extra garlic clove for a stronger taste.
Tomatoes – I like using a couple of cherry tomatoes but you can add any kind of ripe red tomato. They give the perfect level of acidity and color to the broth.
Grape tomatoes and Piccadilly tomatoes work really well too.
Fennel – when in season, fennel is an excellent source of Vitamin C, Iron, Magensium and Potassium. It is rich in antioxidants and is well know for its anti-infimatory properties. Fennel is carminative meaning it helps prevent formation of gas in the intestines. Adding fennel to baby broth with aid digestion help settle their tummies and boost their immune system.
You can add a whole fennel bulb (and eat it once cooked) or just fennel fronds to taste (discard after cooking).
Zucchini – when fennel is not available use white zucchini.
Potatoes – adding a potato to baby broth is also a great option, especially that you can also eat after straining the broth.
Sun-dried tomatoes – use sun dried tomato half for extra flavor. Make sure to rinse off salt.
Ginger – half an inch of ginger will add extra flavor and nutrients.
Tips & Tricks For Making The Most Delicious Baby Broth
- Use fresh meat and fresh vegetables as much as possible.
- If you want to extract extra flavor from the veggies, cut them in bin chunks.
- If you want to serve veggies after making the broth it’s better to keep them whole since they’ll loose their form a lot if cut in chunks.
- When using chicken meat I highly recommend to skim the fat once the broth has cooled. Simply let it sit in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. Once the broth is chilled it’ll be easy to remove any fat from the surface with a spoon or a skimmer. You can do this even if you used quail, but since quail is already leaner than chicken it might be unnecessary.
- Same goes for skimming the “scum” or “foam” once liquid starts to bubble. I hardly ever find any scum when cooking with quails but you’ll most certainly need to do this with chicken.
- Another trick to reduce fat and get rid of scum all at the same time is to bring meat to a boil first, simmer for 2 minutes then drain all the liquid, washing the pot and rinsing meat if necessary. After that add fresh water and all the veggies as stated in the recipe.
- Since this is a baby broth intended to be consumed by tiny humans and toddlers, it’s salt free. All natural flavors. However, if you like you can add a pinch at the very end of cooking time or right before serving.
Make a big batch to store it in the freezer!
The Best Baby Broth For Babies & Toddlers
This baby broth is one of the essential, very nutrition rich linquids that you can make for your baby at home.
Ingredients
- 2 quails, approx 1 pound
- 1 large carrot
- 2 celery ribs
- 1 small onion
- 1-3 garlic cloves
- 3-5 cherry tomatoes
- 1 zucchini or 1 fennel
- 8 cups water
Instructions
- Start by washing and scrubbing the vegetables.
- Peel onion and carrot, you can also slice them in half.
- Cut of both ends of zucchini and cut into a couple of big slices.
- If using fennel, cut of the very root of the bulb, cut off fronds at the top of the bulb and remove 1 or 2 outer stalks since they tend to be fibrous.
- Wash & peel any remaining veggies for the broth.
- Pluck quails to clean any remaining feathers and run them thoroughly under cold running water.
- Put everything in a pot and cover with 8 cups of cold water.
- Just before broth comes to a boil skim off any foam/froth from the surface of the liquid (if any - see notes above the recipe).
- Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and simmer for 60-90 minutes.The more you cook the broth the most intense will be the flavor. I find 60-90 minutes to be the ideal cooking time for baby broth.
- Strain broth and store in the fridge for 3 days.
- If you want to remove excess fat do that once broth is completely chilled (see notes above).
- You can also store broth in the freezer for future use.
Use homemade baby broth for purees, soups and risotto.
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